DOG MAN: THE MUSICAL – REVIEW OF 2026 CAA THEATRE PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

A few questions. Do you read graphic novels? Have you read any graphic novels by Dav Pilkey? Are you between 6 and 12 years old? Do you have offspring or friends in that age group? If the answer is “yes”, you should go and see Dog Man: The Musical now playing at the CAA Theatre in Toronto.

The musical’s natural audience is the youngster but there is enough energy and laughter generated by the event to entertain adults. After all, those kids cannot go to the theatre by themselves, can they? 

Kevin del Aguila wrote the book and lyrics and Brad Alexander composed the music and Dav Pilkey’s  cartoon characters of the graphic novels jumped out  and became the personages of the musical. The six of them are George (Troi Lennoxx Gaines), Harold (Mundo Ballejos), Petey (Anthony Rodriguez), Dog Man (Nick Manna), Flippy (Glory Yepassis-Zembrou) and Li’l Petey (Sadie Jayne Kennedy). You or your companions probably know them all by heart.

With boisterous (that means really loud) music and energy to propel a supersonic jet, George and Harold welcome us to the show and we are just getting started.  

We meet Dog Man who was a nice cop but like many of them he was not very bright. (This does not apply to Toronto police officers who are nice and very bright, just in case one of them stops me for a traffic violation). The not-too-swift cop owned a very intelligent dog and when it met its unfortunate demise (it died) its brain was transferred to the cop who became a very intelligent officer, like a Toronto cop. With floppy ears and dog’s nose, so to speak, we have a well-done Dog Man in Manna’s hands. He cannot speak but he is ready to fight for justice.

 The cast of Dog Man: The Musical.  Photo Credit: Jeremy Daniel.

Good guys need bad guys and in Dog Man we have the gnarling, super active Petey. He is so bad he wants to clone himself so we can have one more criminal. What he gets is a cute, chatty, effervescent and funny kitten called Lil Petey. But she is not evil and in fact sings “Happy Song.” What is worse, she becomes friends with Dog Man and they all sing “The Perfect Mashup”.

Flippy is a telekinetic (I don’t know what the word means either) fish and there is a Robot that is supposed to make the kitty become evil. But the  dastardly and very funny villains are no match for Dog Man, Li’l Petey and law and order. All the actors take on other roles with maximum speed and minimum fuss. There are only six actors and far more roles to fill. They do it with humour, energy and plain gusto.

The set by Timothy R. Mackabee is supposed to be a treehouse but it looks like a colorful room that can be changed to different locations with little fuss. The costumes are again colorful with touches of humour, all intended to fit the high-octane performances by the actors.

There are thirteen musical numbers that emphasize  rambunctiousness and comic spirit that suit the plot and I admit that I cannot recall many tunes. The singing involves the company in every number and aims at moving the plot and entertaining us rather than impressing us or becoming embedded in our memory.

Director and Choreographer Jen Wineman sets the relentless pace and maintains it throughout,

In a theatre with a large number of youngsters, I find myself enjoying the enthusiastic reactions and participation of the audience as much as the show. When I saw the performance on Friday, May 8 I was disappointed that the youngsters were not engaged with the stage as I hoped they would be. I have no idea why that happened and it may have been just one of those nights that actors dread.
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Dog Man: The Musical by Kevin Del Aquila (book and lyrics), Brad Alexander (music), adapted from the books by Dav  Pilkey, continues until June  14, 2026, at the CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St, Toronto ON, M4Y 1Z9  www.mirvish.com/

James Karas is the Culture  editor of The Greek Press, Toronto